KenwoodD700ReprogramingProject.docVIP

Kenwood D700 Reprogramming Project By Miles Mann WF1F Marex September 27, 2006 The D700 currently on ISS is an advanced dual band transceiver that also includes a Paccom TNC built into the D700. The Radio offers an extensive set of programming options that allows the users to reprogram the radio into many configurations. The ISS radios were also specially modified by Kenwood with additional functionality, including cross band repeater with a working microphone. The D700 has 5 function buttons (called PM buttons) that when pushed will reboot the radio into a whole new set of parameters. The initial intent of the PM buttons was to simply the operations of the radio, however and excessive number of features that were stuffed into the D700, made the D700 very unstable. Over the past 3 years of usage, the ISS crew members have inadvertently changed several internal settings.  Issues: Not enough emphasis was placed in keeping the operations of the D700 simple. The most commonly used channels are placed in the channel 100+ range, rather than placing them consecutively 1,2,3, etc. ISS crew members familiar with typical dual band radios would try to use the D700 like typical radio and were easily confused by the D700 configurations. The D700 has been configured NOT to show the frequency display. The ISS crew does not know what frequency they are on, Transmit or Receive. Dual band back door. The D700 has a back door channel that is always active. Also the Packet is always on, even while you are voice mode. The Back door full duplex operations is part of the reason for the confusion with the D700 operations. The back door also seems to cause long delays in the packet system, which signicantly reduces the data throughput of the D700 by more that 70% when compared to a terrestrial TNC in similar band noise conditions. Recently I was informed by ARISS that the D700 needs a new software reload. The existing D700 program has been corrupted over the pass 3 years an